Curated playlist
Extant Middle Pleistocene first appearances
- Red foxThe red fox, Vulpes vulpes, occupies a range of nearly 70 million square kilometres that stretches north as far as the Arctic Circle. It is the largest of the true foxes. It is also among the most widely distributed members of the order…
- African buffaloThe African buffalo has never been domesticated, not once. Its wild relatives the yak and water buffalo were tamed.
- European badgerThe European badger has a jaw strong enough to amputate a human hand. Its heavy skull also makes it hard to hurt.
- CoyoteIn 2026, a coyote, Canis latrans, swam to the southern edge of Alcatraz Island. To get there, it crossed more than a mile of water from the nearest land in San Francisco. A swim like that would surprise anyone who pictures the coyote only…
- WolfWolves have been driven from the British Isles entirely. Their range is now about one-third of its historic size.
- Brown bearThe brown bear can run down a moose, yet 90% of its food comes from plants. Adults can weigh up to 600 kg.
- CougarThe cougar holds the Guinness record for the most names of any animal.
- JaguarThe jaguar, Panthera onca, kills with a bite that drives straight through the skull between the ears and into the brain. Few big cats hunt this way, and the habit says a lot about an animal built for ambush in the forests, swamps and…
- HumanAny two humans share over 99% of their genetic code. That makes people more uniform than chimpanzees.
- DholeThe dhole, a reddish wild dog of Asia, cannot howl and does not bark. Its voice is a whistle that resembles the call of a red fox, sometimes written as coo-coo. Scientists know the animal as Cuon alpinus, a canid native to South, East and…